German president visits Yad Vashem

Speaking during a visit to the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem, German President Walter Frank-Steinmeier says that Germany has an obligation to stand by Israel due to its Nazi past.

Steinmeier laid a wreath at the site’s Hall of Remembrance, during which he read a message that he left in the museum’s guestbook.

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier speaks during a visit to the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial museum in Jerusalem on May 7, 2017. (AFP/Menahem Kahana)

“We Germans brought upon ourselves incomprehensible blame. Here in this place the memory turns to pain, sorrow, shame and disgrace. By taking responsibility for what happened we stand by Israel and [together] work for a common future,” he wrotes.

In addition to visiting Yad Vashem, Steinmeier also visited Jerusalem’s Mount Herzl military cemetery, where he laid a wreath for the late Israeli leader Shimon Peres, whom he praised as a “true friend.”